By now you might have seen the new Netflix series MH370: The Flight that Disappeared.
It’s a three-part documentary looking at the different potential causes of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014.
While it’s likely months upon months were spent producing the programme, its credibility was almost sucked down the airplane toilet within the first five minutes due to one tiny mistake.
Actually, it’s not tiny. This mistake weighs hundreds of tonnes.
As the first episode reenacts the initial moments of MH370’s departure from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the aircraft on screen is not just in completely the wrong livery, it’s also an entirely different type of aircraft to the one that operated the ill-fated flight.
A Boeing 737 in Malaysian Airlines’ latest livery appears on screen and is followed as it taxis for departure.
You don’t even need to be an aviation expert to know MH370 was operated by a Boeing 777. An aircraft nearly twice as long, twice as wide and capable of carrying nearly twice as many passengers as the 737 shown on screen.
To make continuity worse, the final shot of MH370 taking off isn’t of a Boeing 777 as it should be. And, it’s not even a Boeing 737 as it had been until this point.
It morphs into an Airbus A330.
If you are unfamiliar with the aircraft, here are a couple of comparisons:
And, this tweet even shows how a 777s engines alone are larger than 737.
Is the new GE9X engine on Boeing's 777X as big as a 737 fuselage? No. It’s even bigger. pic.twitter.com/x2s3XXwZTC
— The Air Current (@theaircurrent) January 4, 2019
While it can be irritating for these sorts of details to be pointed out, this is a documentary about an aircraft. It’s only right that the correct aircraft should be shown on screen.
If it were someone’s Facebook post, I’d let this one go through to the keeper. But, it’s not. It’s a documentary that could have easily cost millions.
How many people watched this episode before release and didn’t think to check or reshoot using the correct aircraft type?
Netflix declined to comment on the error, so much like the flight itself, the reason behind the mistake will remain a mystery.
